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Sunday, May 21, 2017

Just Do It

I listened to your feedback about the text last week, so I'm trying something new. The vast majority of comics out there use text in ALL CAPS, simply because it's easier on the eyes. I always wanted to phase into that eventually anyway, so here's a first try. I think it's a little thick and large, but much easier to read than last week, wouldn't you say?

Thanks for the feedback! I wonder if that's because you're used to seeing it the old way. If you look at any other comic, chances are it's in all caps. But maybe I just have to write it smaller and thinner. It does kind of look like the guy is shouting, haha.

Definitely easier to read, this week. You could try for thinner lines. Or maybe give an example of where a guy is shouting, so we have something to compare it to. I always look forward to when the comic comes out! Keep up the good work.

While the font used in today's strip is more readable than the one which you used previously, the ALL CAPS aspect is likely only hampering readabiliy. I'm not sure why a lot of comics out there use ALL CAPS, but probably for some reasons other than readability (and I don't think that it's good even then).

My guess would be - and I'm not typographist - that all caps type and all caps hand written are different.

Quora (https://www.quora.com/Why-are-comic-books-written-only-in-capital-letters) says it was to save the writer's wrists! That's interesting. And they say that since the internet has associated ALL CAPS WITH SHOUTING, it's become a lot less prevalent.

In my opinion, all caps is a good way to go, especially for comics that use handwriting. People can have different handwriting styles for lower case that sometimes can be confusing - while they relatively have similar styles for upper case. So it will be easier to read comics in all caps.

A lot of comics use ALL CAPS and they are all fine. It is easier to read. It's not like we use ALL CAPS on a paragraph. Words on comics usually only few lines, so it's fine.

I read many comics that use ALL CAPS. I never have difficulty to read it and never think that they are shouting all the time. I can tell if they are shouting / screaming when they have different shape of bubble speech / bold texts / italic texts / bigger texts / from the characters' face expression.

Actually, before you mentioned it I didn't even realize that you had done your comics with lower case letters and that you've changed it in this strip......I guess for me it has more to do with the font you choose: there are comics using all caps that I have trouble reading and those that I read just fine. And in this case, the font you use is fine with me. (For the record, Easy, Selkie, Think Before You Think, Stand Still Stay Silent, Daughter of the Lilies, and Demon of the Underground...those are all comics that I enjoy very much and that use lower case letters.)

If it makes any difference, until you pointed it out I hadn't noticed that last week or this week were any different than usual. I haven't had any trouble reading it and I didn't notice you had changed the style. Don't stress out about it.

The comic itself is great, stay confident and you come across much better and you practice more and get better. I relate to this, German isn't an easy language and the Germans themselves focus on doing everything really well, this makes me much more consious of how my German sounds. I really like these comics esp. the ones in Germany as they really relate to me as a foreigner here.

On the subject of the comic itself - we were just talking about this. People think I speak French well, but - I'm just not afraid to make mistakes. (And the French don't mind correcting me, which is fine with me.) Others may speak more accurate French, but slower. And then someone tries to respond to them in English. Interesting - !

Everyone prefers to speak to someone who isn't constantly self-conscious about their own speaking, after all. Iris gets peeved at me when I constantly search for the right word in Italian. "Just SAY it," she says. Even if it's wrong, she'll likely be able to understand from the context. Perfection doesn't get you much further than simple competence!

HA HA HA XD omg...so true...I am a French teacher for foreign people, and I often see those different profiles (with much more nuances of course :) !). I am the "high confidence and low ability" profile and everybody really thinks I'm doing well, while I KNOW I am not. So strange huh ?

I find that using ALL CAPS takes away the author's ability to nuance the message. If the characters are always shouting (which is what ALL CAPS suggest in typed communication), then how do you typographically alter their tone of voice?But honestly - I follow Itchyfeet for the message, not for the font.

Comic artists have lots of tricks up their sleeves to create nuance in "voice" of a character - you could bold it, make the letters a bit jittery, or draw them bigger, as simple examples. I'm not too worried about that - anyway my characters rarely shout ^_^

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ITCHY FEET is the weekly web comic about travel, life in foreign countries, and learning new languages. Readers can expect an astonishing array of exaggerated facial expressions, humorous situations involving foreigners and foreign lands, and ordinary silliness.